A 5,188 square foot duplex apartment in Hong Kong has been sold for HK$497.9 million, or Dh235.8 million, claimed to be the most expensive unit to be sold in Asia, according to media reports.

The ‘South China Morning Post’ newspaper named the buyer Daniel Aaxman, a director of Lead Connection, quoting the Hong Kong Land Registry records.

He paid K$95,971 per square foot for the apartment in Opus Hong Kong. The unit includes two car parking spaces.

The sale broke the previous record for price per square foot, set in April, when a company director with a Singaporean passport, Wang Shuang, paid HK$93,000 per square foot for a HK$433.8 million home on the 45th floor of 39 Conduit Road, the newspaper said.

Opus, a 12-storey tower completed in 2012, has been dubbed the most expensive apartment tower in Hong Kong.

It has been designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry.

Every unit in the twisted-shape building has floor-to-ceiling windows and offers 360-degree views of Victoria Harbour and Mount Cameron.

In June 2015, UK-based Knight Frank’s global house prices index revealed prices in Hong Kong had risen at the fastest pace than any country over the 12 months to March 2015.

Prices had increased by 19 per cent over the period due to shortage of homes despite the government introducing cooling measures in 2013 such as a tax on homes sold within five years of their purchase and buyers having to make a 40 per cent down payment for second homes.

Emirates 24|7 reported that an apartment sold for Dh12.90 million on the Palm Jumeirah, topping the list of 10 biggest apartment deals in Dubai in the first quarter 2015.